Thanks for posting your thoughts on the XF 14/2.8 R, and your excellent photos taken with it. It looks to be as good as I hoped it would be. I'm definitely going to get one, but first, I have to earn some more cash.

thanks for swinging by, Vern and Mescalamba. I have the Samyang 14mm and love it with the Nikon D800E, balanances really well and is almost as good as the 14-24mm Nikkor for a fraction of the $$$, however it is pretty bulky on the X-E1, I prefer the Tokina 11-16mm,
distorts less then the 14mm
here is the link to shots with the X-E1 and 11-16mmhttp://www.mikekobal.com/blog/?p=6543
link to d800e with 14mmhttp://www.mikekobal.com/blog/?p=6228

If you want an excellent 14mm alternative for APS-C, consider the Pentax DA 14/2.8, it's smaller than the Samyang, takes 77mm filters and has excellent performance on APS-C. The main downside is requiring an adapter capable of providing aperture control as it lacks an aperture ring like all DA lenses. And while more expensive than the Samyang, it's still relatively reasonably priced.